Unfortunate ad idea hurts admirable foundation

The Brazilian arm of the [[World Wildlife Fund]] (WWF) has got the parent organization into plenty of hot water. The ad (Courtesy of Adweek.com) shows multiple planes all flying towards Manhattan with the tag line "The 2004 Tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11." Insensitive as hell, especially as the graphic shows the Twin Towers still standing.

To their credit, WWF issued a very strong condemnation:

(click the picture to see it in all its “glory”)

WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad and did not authorize its production or publication. It is our understanding that it was a concept offered by an outside advertising agency in Brazil. The concept was summarily rejected by WWF and should never have seen the light of day. It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from websites where it is being currently featured. We strongly condemn the messages and the images portrayed in this ad. On behalf of WWF, here in the US and around the world, we can promise you this ad does not in any way reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of our organization.

Unfortunately, you can’t get the Genie back in the bottle and all of WWF’s good works will be forever tainted by this one stupid move by an ad agency striving for that “edgy” look.

The World Wildlife Fund does a lot to protect nature and they could certainly use our help as they go into full damage control. Click the Wiki link above to learn more about them.